(a) The Legislature further finds and declares that, in addition to their other ratepayer protection objectives, a principal goal of electric and natural gas utilities’ resource planning and investment shall be to minimize the cost to society of the reliable energy services that are provided by natural gas and electricity, and to improve the environment and to encourage the diversity of energy sources through improvements in energy efficiency and development of renewable energy resources, such as wind, solar, and geothermal energy.

(b) The Legislature further finds and declares that, in addition to any appropriate investments in energy production, electrical and natural gas utilities should seek to exploit all practicable and cost-effective conservation and improvements in the efficiency of energy use and distribution that offer equivalent or better system reliability, and which are not being exploited by any other entity.

(c) In calculating the cost effectiveness of energy resources, including conservation and load management options, the commission shall include a value for any costs and benefits to the environment, including air quality. The commission shall ensure that any values it develops pursuant to this section are consistent with values developed by the Public Utilities Commission pursuant to Section 701.1 of the Public Utilities Code. However, if the commission determines that a value developed pursuant to this subdivision is not consistent with a value developed by the Public Utilities Commission pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 701.1 of the Public Utilities Code, the commission may nonetheless use this value if, in the appropriate record of its proceedings, it states its reasons for using the value it has selected.

(Added by Stats. 1990, Ch. 1475, Sec. 1.)